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Price & Service Notice:
Employment Tribunal Claims

In keeping with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s rules on costs transparency, this page sets out our costs for bringing and defending wrongful and unfair dismissal claims in the Employment Tribunal. The costs set out below are estimates.

 

Where we charge for our work on an hourly rate basis, our hourly rates are £335 plus VAT for our Legal Director; and £125 plus VAT in respect of paralegals. We will review our hourly rates on a periodic basis. This is usually done each January. We will give you advance notice of any change to our hourly rates.

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We offer alternative ways for employers to fund defending Employment Tribunal claims.

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These include: 

  • Longer term agreements where employers receive HR and Employment law advice from us throughout the life of the agreement and do not pay any additional legal costs when faced with a tribunal where our advice on best practice has been followed.

  • Longer term fixed fee arrangements for larger employers with regular employment tribunal claims.

  • Insurance cover (see Other Funding Options below).

 

Wrongful Dismissal Claim (single claim):

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£4000 - £9,000 plus VAT

 

Unfair Dismissal Claims:

  • Simple cases: £7,000 - £13,500 plus VAT.

  • Medium complexity cases: £11,500 - £20,000 plus VAT.

  • Complex cases: £17,500 - £35,000 plus VAT.​

 

It would not normally be necessary to undertake other work or incur other costs other than those described above. However, we would be very happy to provide you with a more tailored quote for all stages of your particular case once we know about your specific circumstances.

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Factors influencing the cost of your case:

  • Multiple or additional complex claims, such as discrimination and whistleblowing.

  • Complex preliminary issues e.g. establishing if you or the other party has a disability.

  • Making or defending applications to amend claims or to provide further information about an existing claim.

  • Defending claims that are brought by litigants in person.

  • Making or defending a costs application.

  • The number of witnesses.

  • The volume of documents.

  • If it is an automatic unfair dismissal claim.

 

Key stages included in the above prices:

  • Taking your initial instructions.

  • Reviewing documents.

  • Entering into pre-claim conciliation.

  • Agreeing a list of issues, a chronology and/or cast list.

  • Advising you on liability (your chances of winning) and quantum (any likely compensation you may receive or have to pay out).

  • Preparing, drafting and submitting the ET1 (claim form) or ET3 (response form).

  • Reviewing and advising on the claim or response from the other party.

  • Preparing and attending a preliminary hearing.

  • Preparing and finalising or considering a schedule of loss.

  • Preparing, finalising and agreeing a bundle of documents.

  • Taking witness statements, drafting statements and agreeing their content with witnesses.

  • Preparing, finalising and exchanging or considering a bundle of documents with the opposing party.

  • Attendance, by us, at the final tribunal hearing.

 

The stages set out above are an indication of the range of services we offer and can be adapted to suit your individual needs.

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Potential Additional Charges may include:

  • Substantial applications – if a formal request requires considerable preparation and/or response.

  • Expenses and disbursements – these can include: travel, accommodation, medical and other expert reports, postage and photocopying.

  • Advocacy services: This will be an additional cost if we need to instruct Counsel for their opinion and/or for their attendance at the hearing. Fees for Counsel tend to start from around £200 plus VAT per hour. Where this is appropriate, we would always discuss charges and options with you in advance.

  • Exploring settlement and negotiating settlement throughout the process.

  • Preparing and attending judicial mediation.

 

Disbursements

 

Disbursements are expenses related to your case, payable to us or to third parties. They are payable in addition to our costs. We can handle payment of disbursements on your behalf but sometimes you may be asked to pay them direct. Examples of disbursements include the cost of obtaining medical evidence; and Counsel’s fees.

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How long will my case take?

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The time that it takes from taking your initial instructions to the final resolution of your matter depends largely on the stage at which your case is resolved. If a settlement is reached during pre-claim conciliation, your case is likely to take 2-12 weeks. If your claim proceeds to a final hearing, your case is likely to take between 9 months and 2 years to conclude. Much will depend on the waiting time for hearings - i.e. Employment Tribunal availability at the various stages. This is just an estimate and we will of course be able to give you a more accurate timescale once we have more information and as the matter progresses.

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Other Funding Options

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Employers: You may have insurance to protect you against employment claims. For most employers, whilst the insurer may have a panel of regular advisors, the terms of your insurance may allow you to instruct a law firm of your own choosing. If you think you have insurance cover, you should discuss how to make a claim with your insurer. We would be happy to talk this through with you.

The costs of acting for you on an insured claim depend upon the terms of coverage of your insurance and the hourly rate the insurance provider agrees to cover for your legal advice. If you are likely to incur any additional costs not covered by the insurance, we would discuss these with you.

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Individuals:  You should always check whether another body (such as a trade union) could be responsible for your costs. It is also possible that you hold a legal expenses insurance policy that could cover your legal costs. Sometimes household contents, car or other insurance policies cover legal expenses. We strongly recommend that you carefully check for this as your insurers may contribute towards your costs. If you think you have insurance cover, you should discuss with your insurer.

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Whilst the insurer may have a panel of regular advisors, the terms of your insurance are likely to allow you to instruct a law firm of your own choosing. We would be happy to talk this through with you.

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No-win-no-fee

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Exceptionally, we may be able to offer a no-win-no-fee agreement. Before doing so, we would assess the viability of your case and we estimate that this will take up to 5 hours. We charge for this assessment on an hourly rate basis.

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If we enter into a no-win-no-fee agreement with you, you may still be liable to pay some or all of:

  • Our charges and expenses if you win.

  • Your opponent’s legal fees if you lose.

 

The above may be deducted from any compensation you receive and/or payable separately. We will advise you about this in more detail before entering into a no-win-no-fee agreement, including whether you have or can buy insurance to protect you against these risks.

 

Our Team

 

Our Legal Director, Darren Stevens, would be the lead solicitor on your matter, and may be supported by paralegals. Darren has over 19 years post-qualification experience delivering high-quality work in all matters relating to Employment Tribunal Litigation.

 

Regardless of who works on your matter, they will be supervised by Darren Stevens.

 

Complaints

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We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided, you should inform us immediately so we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your matter to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you would like to make a formal complaint, you can read our full complaints procedure [link to your process]. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your matter.

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What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

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We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. This applies if you are an individual, a business with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1m, or if you fall within certain other categories (you can find out more from the Legal Ombudsman). The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your matter.

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Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

  • within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and

  • no more than six years from the date of act/omission; or

  • no more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

 

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.
Contact details:

 

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

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The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

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Regulatory information

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People Law Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Our SRA registration number is 824201.

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